Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a Facebook page which highlights people's election material. Election material is now coming back to haunt those who made promises. The Ceann Comhairle will be aware of Dún Laoghaire, Rathdown and that area. The Tánaiste produced a newsletter in 1997 which stated that he always opposed water charges. Following the abolition of water charges in 1997, he stated that water rates were a form of double taxation on PAYE workers. How times have changed. He also stated at the time that the abolition of water charges were part of a package to improve local government. What a difference a couple of decades make considering that not only has this Government abolished some local authorities but it has taken powers, including powers over water, from local authorities. This Government, along with previous Governments, have been responsible of starving local authorities of money they could invest in a proper infrastructure.

Think of what the €180 million wasted on set-up costs and consultants could have done if it was invested in the infrastructure which has been leaking for many generations. It could have gone a long way towards addressing those leaks and saving money rather than being spent on large and small multinational companies advising and creaming money from this Government and previous Governments in terms of the contracts given to deliver consultancy and so on, all of which would not be required if water was left in the charge of local authorities and if there had been increased investment in the infrastructure and the delivery of water in our State.

All this is moving towards a plan to privatise water and make people pay more. One of the issues which came to the fore during the week was the fact that if citizens - Irish citizens are quite good at this - did their duty, conserved water at a greater rate than they have in the past and did not use the level of water predicted, because a penalty would be imposed on them through a charge, Mr. John Tierney said they would have to look at increasing the price of a litre of water.

We have been told this is all about conserving water, but if one is good at that, one will find that is not what this is all about. One will be punished in such circumstances because Irish Water has to make a profit, or at the very least break even. It cannot break even now because €180 million has already been spent before it has even started. This is a farce from start to finish. It is time to call a halt before any more money is pumped into the hole that is Irish Water. Local authorities should be allowed to retain the responsibility they had in this regard for many years. They were very good at fulfilling that responsibility when they were properly funded. It is time to reverse the decision. We have been told that people should have faith in the Commission for Energy Regulation. I suggest that the commission's decision to sanction hikes in ESB and gas charges at a time when people are struggling says a great deal about where our faith should be.

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